Teacher: Teacher Ophelius

Many people on earth have become very predictable in their behavior—they are “creatures of habit” and therefore they follow many patterns that they have been conditioned by throughout their upbringing or by the inspiration of seasonal festivals. The desire to do good to their fellows, spread cheer, or to give compassionately (charity) to those less fortunate souls who have become victims of economic circumstance or illness becomes almost a cyclical duty driven by commercial profiteers and marketing campaigns rather than a self-imposed reflection on their own place in life or their responsibility as a universe citizen.

Many people are very giving and charitable by nature, yet because of the busyness of life and the constant doing and struggle to carve out a living or to seek constant entertainment, this compassionate side is rarely stirred because they have not made it a habit to slow down and think about the deep meanings of life, love, and relationships. Compassion is a realization of inequality between the condition of the self, and the condition of another and the desire to relieve suffering. When we feel compassionate toward someone, what is occurring within us is that we are making a choice whether to express the Divine Will, or to continue uninterrupted with our busy life.

When we say, “The plight of that poor soul tugs at my heartstrings,” what is happening is that our Indwelling Spirit is giving us the opportunity to express the Divine Will and to make a choice to make perfect that which is imperfect—to relieve suffering and to bring what is unequal to a state of equilibrium. Do you not recognize the divine signature in this compassionate feeling? Moreover, on a greater scale, we find a great outpouring of compassion, heroism, and unity of cause when a disaster happens and many people are suffering in dire situations. The divine expression to be compassionate and to relieve suffering becomes very strong in us because our “world is rocked” and our busy little self-absorbed lives stop for a moment and we peek out of our shell to find that the contrast of our own well-being is drastically unequal with the state of those who are suffering alongside us, and we inherently desire to express the Divine Will and bring all things back into a state of relative “normalcy.”

How can we be open to this Divine Will and develop our god-like characters throughout the year without having to be shocked into noticing some gross inequality or to be influenced by some marketing campaign? Develop a habit of stillness where you express your gratitude for life and your desire to be an instrument of the Divine Will. Stop the “carousel” and look out at the world and see where you can be of service to someone. Doing one small act of kindness to another that would be out of your pattern of daily routine brings the entire world one nth degree closer to perfection. Doing this day in and day out as a new “habit” starts a chain reaction that changes the world no matter how insignificant it seems to you.

“Peace on earth and good will towards men” is a statement of the Divine Will to bring all things to perfection and completion. Your choice to allow the Divine Will to function through you means you are a participant in the Great Plan and not just a bystander.

Peace to you,

The Circle of Seven